Podcamp and The Podcamp Foundation- As well as having helped organize a number of Podcamps to date, including Podcamp NYC 1.0 & 2.0, Podcamp Boston 2.0 & 3.0, and lead organizer for Podcamp Philly along with Bill Rowland, I am acting Director of Operations for the Podcamp Foundation. I’m also organizing the Open sessions at the Web 2.0 Expo in NYC in association with Tech Web.

The LD Podcast– a podcast about learning and learning disabilities, geared towards parents and teachers.

The Parent’s Eye View– my blog about everything else, largely non-parenting in nature. (Posts from Parent’s Eye View have recently been transferred over to www.WhitneyHoffman.com)

OB GYN To Go– This is a podcast I produce for medical resident education for the OB GYN Department of Christiana Care. We’ve done a study about the effectiveness of using podcasts in resident education, and we have submitted an abstract for publication on the subject.

Hi there! My name is Whitney Hoffman, and you may best know me for my involvement in podcasting and digital media. I have an undergraduate degree in developmental biology from the University of Pennsylvania and a law degree from the Dickinson School of Law, part of Penn State. My education and my experience being the parent of two boys with learning disabilities has driven my interest in helping other parents and educators find the best tools available to help their children bridge the gap between failure and success in school.

I am passionate about education, and what we can do to make schools better meet the needs to teachers and students every day. To that end, I have presented on many education related topics, including “Making Your Message Stick- for Educators” and “Education 2.0- How New Media is Changing Education”.

I have also presented on how to make you presentations more effective, and on why community building is vital to all of your new media/online project success and other digital media/social media topics. These have included presentations at Web2Open on the New FCC Guidelines- what they mean to you; the Social Media Plus conference on Social Media 101- Strategies for Your Business; and a variety of social media and business topics for AGS University, the New Castle County Chamber of Commerce, and the upcoming Delaware Governor’s Entrepreneurial Business Conference.

I regularly consult with large and small businesses about optimizing their web content and content creation, developing an online marketing strategy, reaching niche markets, and helping create compelling content while measuring return on investment.

While the education and business interests can seem divergent, both have the same core goal- It’s all about managing attention by creating compelling content and educating your “customer”- whether that customer is a business partner, a true customer, or a student. The same strategy you can use to make something as tedious as math facts compelling to a sixth grader, work equally well to convince your customer about the goods and services you offer. It’s all about making a compelling case, whether you are in a classroom, a marketplace or a courtroom.

My podcast, The LD Podcast, features interviews with experts on learning disabilities and learning, along with conversations with parents, therapists and other experts in the field, talking about what matters most to them. I’ve always found the best advice I’ve ever received has been from other parents, and to that end, we’re seeking to create a community around the podcast, to allow parents to benefit from the advice of others similarly situated.

For the past two years, my consulting business, Hoffman Digital Media, has been involved in helping B to B and B to C businesses understand the social media space and how to use the tools available to enhance their marketing and communication with customers of all sizes. Whether it’s providing an overview of Social Media and which tools are best suited for your business strategy, or doing an analysis of your website and how you can make it a more effective channel for communication, I can help your business use its website as more than just a billboard, but as an interactive channel to help you build a community of customers and fans.

With the recent release of the new FTC regulations that requires bloggers and online media to adhere to the same ethical standards in endorsements and testimonials as traditional advertisers, bloggers and traditional advertisers will both need to be cautious as they design programs to take advantage of the opportunities that exist online. Hoffman Digital Media is well positioned to help your business develop blogs and social media communication channels, while keeping an eye towards compliance.

Speaking Topics Include but are not limited to:

Social Media 101- Understanding the Social Media Landscape

Blogging for Business

Google for Listening and Marketing

Engaging Presentations- tips and tricks to capture attention and avoid Death by Powerpoint

Workshops on How to Set up a Blog, Social Media profiles and more

Basic Search Engine Optimization- How to make sure Google can find your site and how you can improve your ranking

How Social Media can Augment your Marketing Strategy (customized with competitive analysis for your business)

Capturing Attention and Keeping it- Using strategies to make all your communications hit their mark

Community Building- Online Communities and Your Business

Unconferences- Take your meetings from ordinary to extraordinary by applying lessons we’ve learned from Podcamp